Wine

OK, so who switched winter on? Following two months of what promised to be a glorious summer normality has returned to the shores of Britain bringing with it wind-swept and rain-drenched mugginess that has sufficiently clouded our memories of deck chairs in the garden and strawberries and cream in the fridge. Ain't it always the way. If my memory serves me well, the first few weeks of August are generally the days in which Britain decides to take a rest...

Sat amongst the renowned wine regions of France such as Bordeaux, Béarn and Bergerac little gets said of petit Saint Mont, but it really should. With siliceous earth, clay and sand soils the region bears all the trademarks of its larger and more recognised counterparts, producing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc red grapes as well as Petit Manseng, Courbu and Clairette Blanche white. The town of Saint Mont has a population of just 350 people, and yet its surrounding lands have provided the perfect climate and...

One thing you're always guaranteed of when buying a Brent Marris wine is a good story. A descendent from the noble De Marisco family, whose members variously fell in and out of "favour" with the English monarchy in the 12th and 13th centuries, he named his Sauvignon Blanc bottle "The King's Favour" because it was Marlborough's favourite grape and represents a time of the King's favour. Not unlike other bottles, such as the King’s Wrath Pinot Noir which was named after outlaw William de Marisco - the...

A 10 foot robotic bartender is set to start its first shift at an immersive London wine bar pop-up. The contraption will appear at Campo Viejo’s Fiesta de Color on Waterloo Millennium Green from today and will be dishing out wine until 11pm this Sunday. It is part of an immersive pop-up exploring the art and science behind wine blending. The experience, which is normally only offered at Campo Viejo's winery in Spain, is lead by company's wine experts and will give visitors the chance...

A decanter which promises to keep open wine fresh for nearly two WEEKS has reached three times its fundraising target on Kickstarter. The 'eto' device uses a patented design to completely eliminate air in the decanter as it is sealed. This prevents oxidation and can therefore keep open wine fresh for up to 12 days, according to its British designer Tom Cotton, 43. The inventor launched a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month to raise £55,000 to put the decanter into...

Within Death in the Afternoon – a paean to Bullfighting, published in 1932 - Author, Journalist and keen drinker Ernest Hemingway wrote: “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.” Not only does wine unlock a magical gateway to drunken, innocent gallantry,...

A chilly vineyard has become Britain's most Northerly commercial WINE producer for the first time in history. The British wine boom has rarely seen vineyards pop up as far north as Watford as the French try to snap up land for the same desire across the South of England. But no other grape-grower has managed to achieve the longitude co-ordinates of breezy Malton in North Yorkshire. The effects of climate warming and hardier strains of vine have blown away the...

You don’t have to be an expert in fine wine investment to know that when demand grows, so does price. The cost of fine wine from regions like Bordeaux and Chablis have been driven through the roof, making it unaffordable for anyone but the super rich. But change has quietly been brewing in the world of wine, and notions towards fine wine may be set to change; much like everyone who became fed up of having to swallow cheap, tasteless...

So you’ve made the decision to invest in fine wine; you don’t like the abstract nature of the numbers in the stock market, and you’re partial to the grape itself, so it seemed like a natural decision. Well, a few words of caution before you go head-first into the wild world of wine for profit. You should not treat fine wine investment as a source of guaranteed profit. Of course, you want to make money from it, but it is,...